麻豆社区

A trio of presenters shared their wisdom with Yukon Quest mushers and the public Saturday at a rookie workshop at the Mt. Mac Recreation Centre.

The event featured Dr. Kate Foster, the head veterinarian for the 2023 Yukon Quest, Ed Hopkins, a veteran Quest musher and current board member and Christiane Koch-Champeval, a certified canine massage practitioner with a specialty in sports massage.

The Star was there for some of Hopkin鈥檚 presentation.

When asked about tents, Hopkins responded 鈥淎 tent, for me, is something else I don鈥檛 need in my sled 鈥� it鈥檚 taking up too much space, I鈥檓 spending too much time putting it up and down. That鈥檚 all time that can be used for something else.鈥�

Legendary Quest musher Frank Turner mentioned using a tarp to cover yourself on the trail.

Turner said 鈥淚f you鈥檙e by your sled and you鈥檝e got a dog moving in the line, if something鈥檚 going on, you feel that right now.

鈥淚f you get yourself out of the game and you go into a tent, where you don鈥檛 have the visual 鈥� you鈥檙e losing the connection.鈥�

Turner later told a story about racing in one Quest with Hopkins in which Hopkins had only seven dogs and used a telescopic pole to his advantage to keep up with Turner.

鈥淓very time I looked back, he was there. And I knew I was moving pretty good. And I thought 鈥榃hat the hell is going on here?鈥� Then it was after the race later on, he told me, he said 鈥楩rank, it took me til August until my arm was healed up from the pumping鈥� 鈥� I couldn鈥檛 believe he stuck with me. We were in a lot of hills there, and he just poled and poled and poled.鈥�

Hopkins was asked about how he stays awake on the trail.

鈥淚 take six or seven pieces of the most spiciest gum I can find and I chew that. It keeps me awake. You feel like your breath is on fire, you鈥檈 shooting flames out of your mouth 鈥� whatever it takes.鈥�

Hopkins talked about how everything on the sled has to be lined up perfectly, including the harnesses and lines, in order for the sled to steer straight.

鈥淭ry to do that for six or seven or eight hours a day for 10 days in a row. You鈥檙e not just sitting there, as some people think you are. You鈥檙e steering that sled. You鈥檙e paying attention to the trail. You鈥檙e trying to find the straightest part of that trail as you can. You want your sled to be steering straight. That鈥檚 little things, that鈥檒l take seconds off your run, or hours after a day, or half a day over a thousand miles.鈥�

He also talked about how he takes care of his dogs on the trail, including massaging them and tending to their tired paws.

Hopkins was also asked about his checkpoint routine, including getting in and out of checkpoints and gave a detailed description of how he deals with that, including feeding and watering the dogs.

Hopkins also mentioned that he carries an extra bag of dog food on top of his sled in case he runs into another musher in trouble.

鈥淭here鈥檚 many times you come down the trail and somebody鈥檚 out there having issues. They need some food, been there for a few hours, you鈥檝e got something you can give to them 鈥� you鈥檙e trying to compete with them, but you don鈥檛 want to see them suffer either.鈥�

Hopkins was asked how to deal with the attention that mushers and their dogs receive on the Quest, especially at the start line.

鈥淚t鈥檚 up to you. You have to be calm and the dogs feed off of you. If they look at you and you鈥檙e like, 鈥業t鈥檚 not a big deal,鈥� then they鈥檙e like, 鈥業 guess it鈥檚 not a big deal鈥�.鈥�

He talked about how to get his young dogs used to being on the trail as well.

鈥淭he amount of time you spend in the dog yard and on the trail with your team is paramount. You get to know them in the yard, their personalties, but when you鈥檙e training, go camping with them. Spend as much time camping with them as possible. Get your camping routine down 鈥� your dogs get used to your routine.

鈥淔or new dogs, they鈥檙e gonna go ballistic 鈥� they鈥檙e gonna be barking and screaming and carrying on. So what I do is I have a little cable gang line 鈥� for dogs like that I鈥檒l just pull it out and I鈥檒l put the yahoos on there so these guys here (the older dogs) can sleep and these guys here (the young yahoos) can figure it out. They can watch and see what everybody else is doing.

鈥淪o camping is a great thing to do. Run five hours, rest five hours; they figure it out eventually.鈥�

Hopkins, of course, also lent the novice mushers his wisdom regarding training routines for his animals.

鈥淒og mushing isn鈥檛 a negative thing; it鈥檚 all positive reinforcement training. That鈥檚 what you want.鈥�

The Star spoke with Hopkins after his presentation. He thought it went well.

鈥淣ice little turnout here, get some rookie people here 鈥� wet their whistle, give 鈥榚m these ideas of what they can go and train with.鈥�

Hopkins had some important tips for the fledgling mushers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just basically about packing your sled. I kind of touched on checkpoint routines and musher hydration and how to keep yourself in shape so you don鈥檛 make bad decisions.鈥�

Hopkins was asked what obvious items mushers are most likely to forget to take with them on the trail.

鈥淯sually the thing that they would forget would probably be their food dishes and their dipper 鈥� there鈥檚 so many things. You can鈥檛 pick just one 鈥� there鈥檚 so many moving parts when you鈥檙e running dogs.鈥�

Quest operations manager John Hopkins-Hill said 鈥淚 think today鈥檚 workshop was really successful. The presenters were fantastic. The attendees were interested in learning what the presenters had to share. There were a lot of really good questions. There was some good discussion. All the participants that I鈥檝e spoken to have left here feeling like they鈥檝e learned something, which is all you can really ask for.

鈥淲e鈥檙e hopeful that this puts the mushers that took part with us today 鈥� and the ones that aren鈥檛 registered for the Quest but wanted to come to this workshop 鈥� in a situation where they feel like they鈥檙e now better equipped to race.鈥�

Hopkins-Hill added 鈥淲e had approximately 20 mushers sign up and of those 20, I believe that basically half were Quest mushers. There was three or four people from Quebec who joined us, who aren鈥檛 registered to mush, as well as a couple of Quebec mushers. But we also had some folks from Alaska and from Wisconsin who wanted to sit in on the workshop, so what that really tells me is that 鈥� there is an appetite for this kind of programming. People do still want to learn. They do still want to get better and whatever we can do to help 鈥� and I think this workshop was successful in helping.鈥�